Aboriginal kids rework an Australian classic

Aboriginal students from Ntaria in the Northern Territory have given a Banjo Paterson classic a hip-hop reworking.

It looks like a video clip of the Australian classic "The Man from Snowy River" but actually, it's social development theory in action.

Wendy
Cowan – a teacher at Ntaria school some 125 kilometres west of Alice Springs – understands
that the process of discovery expands consciousness and that the process of application
enhances social organisation. Both capacities are highly sought after amidst
the background noise of life on a remote Aboriginal community.

“I started here 12 months ago. Over this period of time the students have
increasingly used digital technologies. The change has been gradual but very
noticeable."

“Our first project was poetry. I wanted
them to be able to memorize and recite something. That’s why we did the Man
from Snowy River because it’s a bush ballad and they had a parallel in as much
as the Kulprilya races were happening at the same time. The poem uses rhyme which
soon became a song so I thought “let's record it”. We worked in partnership with
two music producers - Dan the Underdog and McDee - who did a fantastic job using
GarageBand with the students.”

“Then I discovered found poetry which is
about taking a poem and applying it to your context... so that became the
shadow puppet video clip idea for which we incorporated local flowers, trees
and bushfoods into the design... the landscape that this poem is being recited
to. It’s been a long journey pulling those elements together.”

School teachers sign up for a career in social development, leading students through the process of discovery and application. As
an Open Producer, I recognise the similarity in our raison d’etre. I also
recognise that we experience first and understand later. To wit, I hope that
when the students see their film being exhibited at the 15th Indigenous
Remote Communications Association media festival in Ntaria later this week,
that they will be justifiably proud of their achievement.

If
you live in Central Australia and have a media project that you’d like
assistance with, please feel free to discuss it with me.

[The video was shot on an iPad 2 using FilmicPro. It was edited on the same device using iMovie, The contrast, luminance and colour balance was tweaked using VideoGrade. The credits were added on a laptop using Final Cut Pro.]

11
Comments

Donna

This is INCREDIBLE!!!! AMAZING! The best ever re-telling of this poem I have heard!

Wendy Cowan

This music video, 'Man from Snowy River' and 'Kuprilya Races' won a prestigious Remote Media Award at the 15th National Remote Indigenous Media Festival held recently at Hermannsburg, Central Australia.
It was a great surprise and honour to win this award. Over the last year students at Ntaria School have created a number of short films that demonstrate their learning across English, History, Art, Design and Technology. We are just about to create a short film about our watercolour paintings after lessons from Lenie and Kevin Namatjira as well as other famous Hermannsburg watercolour artists.
As we wrote a media release this morning students said, “We had a lot of fun making these two movies. We wrote the words, sang them, took pictures and made the films using iMovie. Now that they are on the internet our families and people across Australia can enjoy our music videos. We are proud of them.”

Suzi Taylor

CONGRATULATIONS! Ntaria students, David, Wendy, Dan and Ash - this is one of the best things i've seen in ages. The artwork and puppetry was gorgeous. I loved the way you re-worked and reclaimed Banjo...next stop is a Western Arrernte version!

Debrah Novak

That is a fantastic remake into a contemporary version of an Australian classic...absolutely loved the music and the puppeteers!

faith

Now that should really inspire lots of others to be really creative in their filmmaking. Well done.

Nicole

I learnt this great Australian poem as a kid and still enjoy it today. Seeing (and hearing) this re-interpretation by the kids from Ntaria was fantastic, it really opens it up to whole new generation. Well done guys, you brought this poem back to life for me!

Carolyn Barker

Lovely!

Leo Ortega

Awesome! Well done all the mentors and the Ntaria kids. I love the amount of detail in those puppets. This one should go straight to be screened at the Indigenous a Media Festival that starts at Ntaria today!

carlene matthews

fantastic, well done guys. i really enjoyed it and appreciated how long it must have taken to get to this final stage.what an example of teamwork :)

Travis

What a great concept, and a fantastic end production, Thanks for sharing the process.(Previous posts) This is a template for all involved in teaching filmmaking . Who needs expensive equipment when u have talent like this.

Wiriya Sati

That's amazing - looks like a lot of work has gone into this one, well done Ntaria yr 6/7! I've always believed that the experience of creating something is the best way to truly know it.